Shafaq News- Baghdad

An Italian archaeological team from the University of Catania, led by Professor Nicola Laneri, has uncovered architectural remains dating to the Old Babylonian period at Tell Muhammad in Baghdad, Iraqi antiquities officials told Shafaq News.

The findings were presented at an event showcasing plans for a protective roof over the site’s archaeological remains, which Iraqi and Italian archaeologists plan to develop into an archaeological park. Attendees included Ali Obaid Shalgham, chairman of Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, and Italian Ambassador to Iraq Niccolò Fontana.

Shalgham outlined plans to promote Iraq’s archaeological heritage through closer cooperation between foreign missions and Iraqi specialists on excavation and conservation projects. Artifacts recovered from Tell Muhammad, he said, would be transferred to the Iraq Museum for public display, while international partnerships would help develop archaeological tourism.

Fontana praised the joint preservation efforts and, during his third visit to the site, expressed hope that it would soon welcome tourists.

Tell Muhammad’s Ancient History

Located on Baghdad’s southern outskirts, Tell Muhammad was a major settlement during the Old Babylonian period (roughly 1850–1600 BCE). Research by the University of Catania’s Baghdad Urban Archaeological Project, led by Laneri, traces the site’s history from the Third Dynasty of Ur, at the end of the third millennium BCE, to the Kassite period (roughly the 16th–13th centuries BCE).

A 2026 study by Laneri and his colleagues estimates that the settlement originally covered approximately 24 hectares, compared with around 2.5 hectares occupied by the surviving archaeological mound.

Read more: A race against time: Restoring Iraq's lost history

In the mid-19th century, British explorers Captain Felix Jones and Sir Austen Henry Layard recovered copper-alloy maceheads bearing inscriptions referring to the palace of Hammurabi, the Babylonian ruler best known for one of the ancient world’s earliest surviving collections of laws. Later excavations by Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, conducted between 1978 and 1985, revealed a sacred area and hundreds of clay tablets bearing cuneiform, the wedge-shaped script of ancient Mesopotamia.

Laneri’s team resumed excavations in 2022, concentrating on the settlement’s fortification wall and city gate.

Expanding Archaeological Tourism

The project forms part of broader Iraqi-Italian efforts to conserve ancient sites and encourage tourism in and around Baghdad. Earlier this month, Iraq opened the first section of an archaeological park at Aqar Quf under a €3 million Italian-backed program involving the universities of Bologna and Catania.

Read more: 150,000 archaeological sites, 556 tourists

More than 50 foreign archaeological missions currently operate across Iraq, conducting excavations, surveys, research, and conservation work. The country has approximately 150,000 registered archaeological sites, according to Mohammad Ouda Al-Obaidi, president of Iraq’s Tourist Guides Syndicate, who previously spoke to Shafaq News. However, limited tourism facilities, transport links, and supporting services continue to hinder efforts to attract visitors.